Dee Clark

Enjoy this Compilation with the most successful American Soul Connexion (1954-1962) singers like Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Jackie Wilson and many more!

This fun collection celebrates that old-time rock 'n' roll. The nostalgic Malt Shop Memories includes 150 songs that defined the era from the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s. The five-volume set comes in a decorative box fashioned to look like a malt shop and includes radio and jukebox favorites by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, the Beach Boys, the Everly Brothers, Bobby Darin, and the Supremes.

The GRC Records set-up in Atlanta produced a wealth of great soul music. Because of the sudden curtailment of the company, due to owner Michael Thevis’ incarceration, so much of it never saw a release. The tapes were preserved though and with many tracks being issued. This latest batch of tape discoveries is of shockingly high quality. Sam Dees’ presence is a major cause of this. Standouts include Miss Louistine’s original version of ‘Con Me’ – surely a contender to be a Deep Soul Treasure, had Dave Godin heard it. Her take on Dees’ ‘Extra Extra’ is possibly the opposite emotion – sheer joy at finding her lover; equally well expressed. ‘Paperman’ is a classic mid 70s Dees’ composition, well sung by Wes Lewis with his group Alpaca Phase III. Dees collaborated with another major GRC talent, Joe Hinton, for the funkier ‘Shouldn’t I Be Given The Right To Be Wrong’. Hinton co-penned two songs with backing singer Louvain Demps who left her job with Motown’s backing girls the Andantes to move to Atlanta with Hinton. Their ‘Grant Me One More Day’ is a beautiful track and ‘Depend On Me’ is another worthy find.

The GRC Records set-up in Atlanta produced a wealth of great soul music. Because of the sudden curtailment of the company, due to owner Michael Thevis’ incarceration, so much of it never saw a release. The tapes were preserved though and with many tracks being issued. This latest batch of tape discoveries is of shockingly high quality. Sam Dees’ presence is a major cause of this. Standouts include Miss Louistine’s original version of ‘Con Me’ – surely a contender to be a Deep Soul Treasure, had Dave Godin heard it. Her take on Dees’ ‘Extra Extra’ is possibly the opposite emotion – sheer joy at finding her lover; equally well expressed. ‘Paperman’ is a classic mid 70s Dees’ composition, well sung by Wes Lewis with his group Alpaca Phase III. Dees collaborated with another major GRC talent, Joe Hinton, for the funkier ‘Shouldn’t I Be Given The Right To Be Wrong’. Hinton co-penned two songs with backing singer Louvain Demps who left her job with Motown’s backing girls the Andantes to move to Atlanta with Hinton. Their ‘Grant Me One More Day’ is a beautiful track and ‘Depend On Me’ is another worthy find.

Oldies But Goodies Vol. 6 is the 1986 compilation CD released by Original Sound Entertainment. Originally part of a series by Art Laboe, this 1986 is an updated version of the album of the same name. Original hit songs by the original artists from existing master tapes at the time.

100 Popcorn Classics is a various artists compilation album. Released in 2009.

We all know popcorn as a sweet and salty confectionery made from maize that is sold in cinemas. But it also gave rise to an R&B instrumental, The Popcorn, written by James Brown in 1969. Around that time, a new form of party music developing in Belgium was named ‘Popcorn’ after the James Brown hits. Rather like Northern Soul in Wigan, it relied on disc jockeys, notably Gilbert Govaert, unearthing black soul singles from the early 1960s. Northern Soul favoured up-tempo tracks and Popcorn smoochier ones, which prompted a ‘slow swing’ dance. Enjoy this 2CD compilation including Timi Yuro, The Pentagons, Ben E. King and many more.

This continues the strand of R&B and country collections associated with Acrobat’s highly popular “America’s Greatest Hits” series, this one focusing on the top R&B records in the US Billboard charts during 1959. This great value 115-track 4-CD anthology includes, with the exception of certain records which are unavailable for inclusion due to copyright restrictions, just about every record which peaked in the Top 14 positions of Billboard’s “Hot R&B Sides” chart during the year. The pop and R&B market was continuing to evolve as rock ‘n’ roll matured, and new strands arrived, with pop-flavoured R&B vocal groups making a significant impact, along with fine R&B vocalists who readily crossed into the pop charts, while the boundaries between pop and R&B continued to become less clear, as some pure pop records got traction on R&B radio stations.